The Maze Runner is the first book in the thrilling, post-apocalyptic dystopian trilogy. It begins with a boy, with no memory of anything but his name, Thomas. He finds himself in an elevator and when he walks out, he finds himself in the midst of a group of teenage boys who also found themselves in Thomas’ situation a couple of years ago. The group of teenage boys have already developed a society to help all of them survive. The 40 people live on grassland dubbed the Glade, surrounded by impossibly tall walls of the gigantic Maze. All of them live in fear of the Maze, which is outside of their established territory, which is a labyrinth with creatures lurking about. A day after Thomas’ arrival, a girl comes in the same elevator but unlike the others; is nearly dead and says “everything is going to change” before she falls into a coma. After her arrival, everything starts to change.
If you liked the Hunger Games and Divergent, then this is the book for you. The Maze Runner will keep you at the edge of your seat the whole time and sets up an extremely interesting setting in just the first handful of pages. The main characters, such as Thomas and the rag-tag team of teenagers were not as fleshed out as they could have been, but the action packed story keeps you interested. I really liked the writing style because it was very straight-to-the-point. There was also a lot of slang that made the book seem more real.
One memorable thing about the book were the characters. They all had different and interesting personalities.
Reviewed by Emily, Grade 8, Twin Hickory Area Library
HCPL TeenScene's Read + Review 